7 Must-Read Green Lantern Comics for Lanterns Fans

Eight episodes of HBO's Lanterns went by way too fast. Kyle Chandler's weathered Hal Jordan, Aaron Pierre's John Stewart, a murder in small-town Nebraska, and Ulrich Thomsen lurking as Thaal Sinestro: Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King built a Green Lantern story that feels more like a crime drama than a cosmic blockbuster. TIME called it better than most superhero shows, and the finale drew the season's biggest audience yet, per Deadline.

Season 2 isn't formally ordered yet, so here's how to fill the gap. These seven runs are fan and critic favorites, they're the Green Lantern books readers have been picking up most on GlobalComix since the show premiered, and every one of them is ready to read right now. No spoilers for the show's last two episodes, promise.

1. Green Lantern: Rebirth - start here

If you read only one Green Lantern comic after Lanterns, make it Green Lantern: Rebirth. Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver bring Hal Jordan back from a very dark place, reset his rivalry with Sinestro, and line up Hal, John, Guy and Kyle as one Corps again. It's just six issues, so it's a one-sitting read.

It's also the closest thing to an official on-ramp: DC put it on its own pre-show reading list, and the advice on r/Greenlantern is the same: start with Rebirth. On GlobalComix it's one of the fastest-growing Green Lantern titles since the premiere. Jump in with issue #1.

2. Green Lantern (2005-2011) by Geoff Johns - the big binge

Rebirth leads straight into Geoff Johns' Green Lantern, the run that turned Hal into a test pilot with a chip on his shoulder and turned the whole franchise into an emotional-spectrum epic. It's got Secret Origin, the modern Hal origin DC recommends for show fans, plus the Sinestro Corps War, where Sinestro finally gets an army of his own.

Fans on r/Greenlantern regularly call it the best Green Lantern run ever, and right now it's the Green Lantern book trending on GlobalComix. When you're hooked, keep going into Blackest Night, the 2010 Eisner-nominated event where the dead come back wearing black rings.

3. Green Lantern: War Journal - the John Stewart book

If Aaron Pierre's John is the reason you watched, Green Lantern: War Journal is your book. Phillip Kennedy Johnson writes John as an architect, a Marine and a son: he's back on Earth caring for his mother through Alzheimer's when a horror from another dimension comes calling, with sharp art by Montos.

The family side is what readers can't stop talking about. A page of John looking after his mom from issue #1 has been doing the rounds on r/comicbooks, with readers sharing their own stories in the comments, and fans on r/Greenlantern single out its character work on John and his family. With fans debating how the show writes John, this is a great way to meet the comics version.

4. Green Lantern/Green Arrow - the original road trip

The show's mismatched duo driving through small-town America has a famous ancestor. In Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams sent Hal and Oliver Queen across the country in the early '70s, trading cosmic villains for poverty and addiction. DC's pre-show list names these "Hard-Traveling Heroes" stories as a direct echo of the show's prickly dynamic.

Bonus for John fans: this volume includes Green Lantern #87, the issue where John Stewart makes his first appearance. Read the collection.

5. Far Sector - if you watched for the murder mystery

Lanterns is a Green Lantern murder investigation, and so is Far Sector. Hugo-winning novelist N.K. Jemisin and artist Jamal Campbell send rookie Lantern Jo Mullein to the City Enduring, a metropolis of 20 billion people who gave up their emotions to keep the peace. Then comes the first murder in 500 years.

It's a self-contained 12-issue noir and was nominated for the 2021 Eisner for Best Limited Series. It's also one of the most under-read gems in our Green Lantern shelf, so start with issue #1 and thank us later.

6. Green Lantern Corps (2006-2011) - read it alongside Johns

The show keeps things on Earth, but the Corps is huge, and Green Lantern Corps is where it gets room to breathe. Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's run follows Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Kilowog and dozens of alien Lanterns through the same wars as Johns' main book.

The standard advice on r/comicbooks is to read Corps right alongside Johns' Green Lantern, and on Goodreads readers say it "starts off phenomenal." It's been one of the biggest draws for new Green Lantern readers on GlobalComix since Lanterns began.

7. Absolute Green Lantern - your monthly fix until Season 2

Want something new every month? Absolute Green Lantern by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay strips away the Corps and the ring and drops Jo Mullein, Hal Jordan and John Stewart into an Earth-bound mystery that AIPT says brings "cosmic horror to Earth." A show built around fear, meet a comic that runs on it.

It's the most-favorited Green Lantern series on GlobalComix and it's rising right now. The second collection, Sojourner, just got a fresh review from Collected Editions, and the latest issue, #19, is out now.

Where to go from here

New to comics? Start with Rebirth, then pick your path: Johns + Corps for the big space epic, War Journal for John, Far Sector for the detective story, or Absolute to keep up month to month. In brightest day or blackest night, you've got plenty to read until Lanterns comes back.